I Always Wanted to Fly: America's Cold War Airmen

15. Lincoln Flight

Chapter 15 Lincoln Flight Citation to Accompany the Award of the Air Force Cross Captain Kevin A. Gilroy distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism as Electronics Warfare Officer of an F-105 aircraft engaged in a pre-strike, missile suppression mission in North Vietnam on 10 March 1967. On that date, Captain Gilroy guided his pilot in attacking and destroying a surface-to-air missile installation protecting one of the most important industrial complexes in North Vietnam. He accomplished this feat even after formidable hostile defenses had destroyed the lead aircraft and had crippled a second. Though his own aircraft suffered extensive battle damage and was under constant attack by MiG interceptors, anti-aircraft artillery, automatic weapons, and small arms fire, Captain Gilroy aligned several ingenious close range attacks on the hostile defenses at great risk to his own life. Due to his technical skill, the attacks were successful and the strike force was able to bomb the target without loss. Through his extraordinary heroism, superb airmanship and aggressiveness, Captain Gilroy has reflected the highest credit upon himself and the United States Air Force. Colonel Kevin A. ‘‘Mike’’ Gilroy Air Force Cross, Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross (3), Air Medal (11), Purple Heart ‘‘I was born on June 4, 1936, in Menlo Park, California, about fifty miles north of the small town of Gilroy. Gilroy is named after my great300 Lincoln Flight great-grandfather. He was a Scottish sailor on a Hudson Bay Company ship, the Isaac Todd. He came from Liverpool and landed here in 1814. He was the first non-Spanish settler in California. He was put off in Monterey with scurvy, which was a fairly common disease among sailors at that time. The ship went on up north to trade with the Russians for furs and was supposed to come back and pick him up. He stayed in Monterey for about six months, waiting for his ship to return. But for whatever reason, the tides or the prevailing winds, the ship never came back. He took a liking to California and decided to make his life here. He changed his name from John Cameron to Gilroy, which was his mother’s maiden name. This was just after the war of 1812, when it was still a common British practice to impress seamen. They’d go in the riverfront bars, hit some likely prospect over the head, and take him out to the ship. The next thing he knew, he was on the high seas. If they came looking for John Cameron, there wouldn’t be anyone living there by that name. ‘‘John married Maria Clara Ortega, the daughter of the Spanish don who had the local land grant. At that time, under Spanish custom, the land always went to the husband, so he inherited eleven leagues square. That is a lot of land. When John died, I believe it was 1869, he didn’t have much land left. In his lifetime, control of the area had gone from Spain to Mexico to the United States. And during each change, some land was taken away. A year after he died, the town of Gilroy was incorporated, and they named it after him.’’ Today, Mike Gilroy, the great-great-grandson of John Gilroy, is the mayor of Gilroy, California, a small town on the highway between San Jose and Monterey. ‘‘After finishing high school, I went to one of the local junior colleges for a while. One day in early November 1953, a couple of my buddies and I decided to go in the military. One went in the navy, the other in the army. I looked at the marines. But the Marine Corps recruiter was at lunch, and the air force office was open. I went through jet-engine-mechanic school at Chanute AFB in Illinois and then was assigned to the 11th Bomb Wing at Carswell AFB near Fort Worth, Texas. I was a mechanic on giant B-36 bombers with six con301 Vietnam, 1965 ventional engines and four jet engines. I got there in ’54, about the time Jimmy Stewart was shooting the movie Strategic Air Command. Around Thanksgiving 1957 my enlistment was up, and I briefly got out of the air force before again reenlisting. That time I was stationed at March AFB, in Riverside, California. ‘‘At March I was assigned to the 320th Bomb Wing, which flew the new, all-jet B-47...